The Barn
by weirdgirl42
Summary: How Booth could possibly recover. Yup,throwing my hat into the "post finale" ring. So spoilers for the finale. Added another chapter. Still fluffy as all get up.
1. Chapter 1

_Author's Note (slight rant alert): Amnesia? Come on people! That being said, here's my version of how Booth gets his memory back. Should warn you…it's pretty darn fluffy._

_Disclaimer: I own nothing._

**The Barn**

It had been Angela's idea. No surprise there. Who else would decide that what the whole team really needed was a weekend getaway at Hodgins' cabin out in rural Virginia? But it had been decided and when Angela got an idea in her head it was fairly difficult to persuade her otherwise.

Brennan did agree that they could all use some down time. The last month had been nothing short of hell for the close-knit team. The fear that Booth's brain tumor would be fatal gave way to fear that he would never wake up which then gave way to the crippling reality that he remembered almost nothing from the last eight years. Even though he'd been out of the hospital for almost three weeks now, the pain of not being remembered still clawed freshly at her every second of every day.

It had taken Angela nearly two days of non-stop pleading to get Brennan to agree to this little getaway. And the only reason Brennan eventually agreed to go was that Booth, who had been staying at her apartment because the doctors had said he shouldn't be alone, had timidly told her he thought it was a good idea, that maybe it could help bring some of his memories back. The way he gently touched her shoulder, still unsure of where he stood in her life, had broken her resolve and she agreed to go.

So there they all were; Brennan, Booth, Angela, Hodgins, Cam, Sweets, and all the current (and one former, slightly irritating) interns. Hodgins' "cabin" was an enormous structure with thirty acres of lake and farmland surrounding it. Hodgins had told them it used to be a working farm and that he had rooms on to the main house over the years. There were now enough for everyone to have their own room, though Hodgins shared with Angela, and Sweets roomed with Daisy. Hodgins also boarded some horses on the property in addition to the ducks and various other wildlife that lived around the lake.

Brennan had to admit that the weekend had been a good idea. She had made it clear to Angela that no one was to pressure Booth. That he was having enough trouble with guilt over his memory without them constantly asking what he remembered. Angela must have spread the word because, while many stories of past cases were rehashed and commiserated over, not once did anyone look at Booth with a question in their eye. They never asked him to join in, or made him feel awkward for not remembering. For that, Brennan was grateful.

For Booth, listening to the stories being told brought him joy as opposed to the pain he had half-expected to feel. In some ways it was like reliving the cases. And every once in a while he would get a flash of an image or a feeling associated with the memory being discussed and this gave him hope.

But, as always, most of his thoughts lay with the woman who always kept herself near without ever touching him. He knew, somewhere inside, that she had been more important to him than words or even memories could express. It tore him up inside when he saw the pain etched across her face at his lack of memory. Several times since he had been staying with her, he had heard her crying at night from his bed in the guest room. A part of him, the part that pulled at his brain and begged him to remember, wanted to crawl into bed beside her and hold her until the tears stopped. But the part that was still unsure, kept him in his own bed.

Sunday night, the night before they went back to the city, Hodgins, Arastoo, and Wendell built a bonfire and Angela broke out the s'mores supplies. Vincent regaled them all with the long history of the s'more before Fischer ended the line of conversation by telling them what was in a marshmallow and how they're made. Brennan hadn't laughed so much in a very long time.

When she looked up, however, she saw that Booth was gone. She looked over at Angela who was sitting next to her.

"Where's Booth?"

"He walked off a few minutes ago. I think he was headed down towards the barn."

Brennan nodded in understanding. Booth had been spending a lot of time in the barn. He had told her that the horses made him feel calm. She picked up the an electric lantern off the table that held the s'mores ingredients and headed down to make sure he was okay.

When she got to the barn she could hear him speaking softly to one of the horses. She knew she should make her presence known but her curiosity got the best of her and she turned off the lantern and stood just outside the door. She could watch as he gently brushed the animal's chestnut coat with a grooming brush while speaking in low tones. It reminded her of a conversation they had once had about how before children can talk, they simply respond to the tone of your voice, regardless of what you were saying.

"I feel like I should be staring on Days of Our Lives," he was saying. "Or like I'm a character in one of Angela's romance novels. I mean, if I was someone else, and I heard about what happened to me, I'd probably laugh."

The horse, whose name they had been informed was Hamlet, twisted his head to nudge Booth's shoulder. Booth reached up and patted the animal's nose. "I mean, I lived through a war you know? I had a bullet ricochet off my helmet and knock me unconscious for two days. But some stupid knock-out drugs take eight years of my life?"

Hamlet blew air through his nose. If Brennan didn't know better, she'd say the horse understood everything Booth was saying.

"I just…" Booth had stopped brushing and was now leaning against the fence of the stall. "I just know that it's in there. I know that she's in there somewhere. Like she's Bugs Bunny in one of those old cartoons, where the hallway is full of doors. Every time I go through a door, all I can see is the door she just went through closing behind her."

Brennan reached up and brushed a tear away from her eyes. Backing up a few steps she reentered the barn, making enough noise for him to hear her and turn around. "Hey," she said. "Here you are."

Booth smiled back at her. "Here I am."

"Sweets apparently brought a guitar. I figured you wouldn't want to miss that."

"No probably not. Have we heard him sing before?"

Brennan shook her head. Booth put the brush back in a bucket near the stall and patted Hamlet's nose one more time. He walked towards the door and was outside when he realized Brennan wasn't behind him. Turning around he saw that she was still standing just inside the door. He walked back in and stood a little ways back of her. "Are you okay?" he asked.

Brennan nodded but he could see her shoulders shaking. Her arms were crossed over her chest. "I'm sorry," she said. "You don't need this."

"Temp…Bones please don't cry. I don't know a lot right now but I know I don't like it when you cry."

"I know."

Booth didn't know what to do. He wanted to reach out to her. He wanted to pull her against his body and piece them both back together. But he knew more pieces were needed before that was possible. "Tell me why you're crying," he said, settling for the possibility of maybe understanding better what was going through her head, when he was so confused about what was going through his own.

Brennan breathed in deeply, trying to stop crying. "I know you can't remember. And I know it isn't your fault. But you have to understand that who you are…who you were…was so wrapped up in the person I saw myself as. And you not having any memory of me or our partnership, it makes me question who I am." She closed her eyes and wrapped her arms tighter around herself. "I'm sorry. I don't want you to feel bad. I just…" she trailed off.

Booth stood frozen in the doorway. The world began to fade into the background. The sound of Hamlet and the other horses moving around, the laughter and singing coming from the bonfire, the calls of the ducks on the lake, they all suddenly seemed far away. He closed his eyes as a wave of joy, fear, pain, and wonder flowed over his body. In an instant, the hallway of doors became a single archway, and standing beneath was her.

When he didn't respond at all, Brennan figured he must have gone back to the bonfire, unable to handle the guilt she had just forced upon him. So she jumped slightly when she felt his hand on her shoulder.

"You're Doctor Temperance Brennan. You work at the Jeffersonian Institution."

Brennan gasped and turned to face him.

Booth smiled and reached up to wipe away her tears. "You're a forensic anthropologist. You specialize in identifying people when nobody knows who they are."

More tears escaped to roll down her face and Booth realized his own cheeks were damp as well. "I know who you are Bones," he whispered. "I know who you are."

With those words, Brennan threw her arms around his neck and buried her face against his shoulder. Booth held her tightly, just as he had in another barn so many years before. Another barn he could now see clearly in his mind. "I know who you are," he said again. "I'm sorry. I promised I'd never leave and I did. I'm so sorry. I never want you to hurt."

Brennan pulled away and reached up to cup his face. Although it was illogical, ever since he'd woken up after surgery his eyes had looked different to her. Somehow, the color had changed and the light in them was slightly off. But now it was as though nothing had ever changed. His eyes were the same as she remembered, as she had lain awake for weeks trying to burn into her memory. "I missed you," she said through her tears.

Booth leaned towards her until their foreheads rested together. "I love you," he replied. "It was the only thing about you that I was really sure of this whole time. My mind may have forgotten but my heart never did."

"Your heart can't remember anything Booth. Its purpose is purely…"

Booth cut her off by kissing her soundly, wrapping his arms around her waist until he had almost lifted her off the ground. Brennan responded with fervor and it was several minutes before they pulled away.

"We have to tell everyone," Brennan said, resting her forehead against his again.

"Yeah I know."

"But things don't have to go back exactly how they were before, do they?"

Booth gave her a full on charm smile, the first since before he'd gone into the operating room. He kissed her eyes, then her nose, and then her lips again. "Not a chance."

**The End**

_well there you have it. that was fluffier that the stuff I normally write but what can I say? we write what the muses tell us to write. please review. bones fans are the best reviewers ever. ___


	2. Chapter 2

_Author's Note: So I decided to do one more chapter. enjoy!_

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Brennan didn't know how long they stood there in the barn, alternating between soft kisses and just standing in each others arms. Eventually they broke apart, they knew they had to go tell the others. Brennan told Booth they should also probably go to the hospital and get him checked out. Booth begged her to wait until tomorrow. He wanted to stay and have fun with the team, especially since he now knew who they all were. Brennan couldn't help but grin at the way his eyes pleaded with her. It was a look he'd no doubt borrowed from Parker, or possibly the other way around.

"Fine," Brennan said, "on the condition that you take it easy and that you call your son and tell him immediately." She held out her cell phone to him.

Booth took the phone and kissed her quickly before dialing Rebecca's number. Brennan listened, while trying not to be obvious about it, to his side of the conversation. When Booth had sufficiently convinced his son that he remembered, he promised the boy they'd spend the next weekend together and hung up. Brennan took her phone back as Booth wiped at the moisture in his eyes.

"I can't believe how much I missed him," he said.

"He missed you too," Brennan replied.

"Thank you, by the way, for looking out for him. He said you've been coming over and taking him out for ice cream."

Brennan looked away, embarrassed to have been caught. She had been worried about Parker after Booth's surgery. The boy didn't really understand how it was possible for his father to forget him. Brennan had taken him for ice cream and tried to assure him that his father would remember eventually. Then she'd held him when he cried and didn't even notice until much later that there was a big chocolate stain on her pant leg.

"I mean it Bones," Booth continued. "It means a lot to me that you care about him."

"He's a part of you," she replied honestly. "How could I not care about him?"

Booth clasped her hand in his. "Come on," he said after a moment, "let's go deal with everybody. Hopefully the fact that I have my memory back will overshadow the fact that you and I are...um..."

"Probably sharing a room tonight?" Brennan supplied.

Booth coughed and felt his cheeks redden. "Right...uh...that."

"I'm sorry if i presumed too much. I honestly don't want to be away from you yet. Sharing a room seemed like the logical conclusion of the day, regardless of whether or not we engage in sexual..."

"Bones!" Booth interrupted. He laughed and put a hand to her face. "I want to be with you more than anything. In every sense of the word."

"Then why did you say you wanted the return of your memory to overshadow the...development in our relationship?"

He laughed again. "Because I don't know if my fragile brain can handle the noise that Angela will make when she finds out."

"I doubt anything she might do will cause damage to your brain. Your eardrums, perhaps."

Booth chuckled as they made their way towards the bonfire, her hand still wrapped in his. They could hear Sweets' guitar and everyone singing along, mostly on key, to 'Have You Ever Seen the Rain?' As they approached, Booth squeezed Brennan's hand and tugged slightly until she looked at him. Booth put a finger to his lips and even in the dim light she could see the mischief in his eyes. She nodded in understanding and gently released his hand. They approached the fire just as the song was ending.

"Hey, there you guys are," Angela said.

"You missed Hodgins and Fischer's version of 'House of the Rising Sun," Cam informed them.

Booth felt a grin trying to fight its way onto his face but he managed to evenly reply, "Well at least you're a better guitar player than you are a potter Sweets."

"I'll have you know, Agent Booth, that i have been taking...wait," Sweets trailed off, placing his guitar on the ground. "What did you just say?"

Ten pairs of eyes stared widely at Booth. After a moment, neither he nor Brennan could stop from laughing, partly from jest and partly from joy. At once, everyone had stood and crowded around Booth. There were hugs, well wishes, and expressions of relief. Brennan had stepped back to give the others some room but Booth's eyes frequently darted up to meet hers.

"Shouldn't you go back to the hospital?" Wendell asked once they had all drifted back to their various camp chairs and logs.

"It can wait until tomorrow," Booth replied, taking a seat next to Brennan. Everyone noticed that they were sitting close enough for their thighs to touch, but no one said anything. After a somewhat awkward moment, Sweets grabbed his guitar and played the intro to 'Joy to the World.' Everyone laughed but then sang along about Jeremiah and his bullfrog. Even Brennan knew the chorus.

It was much later when Hodgins finally douses the fire with a hose and they all walked back up to the house. The group separated to their various rooms after a round of 'goodnights' and more hugs from Angela and Cam. Eventually, Booth and Brennan were alone in the kitchen. Booth didn't hesitate to pull Brennan into his arms as soon as everyone was gone.

"I love you, you know," he whispered as he kissed her below the ear. "I think i have for a really long time. And if you never feel like you can say it back, it doesn't matter. You're it for me. You're all I want."

Brennan took a breath and pulled away to look at him. "I can't say it yet. Because I still don't know quite what it means. But I know that what I feel for you is different, bigger than anything I've felt before. You're all I want too. And I...I have faith in you Booth. Faith in us together. Can that be enough for now?"

Booth smiled, "Yeah Bones, it's enough. It's plenty."

**The End**


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